Rochester is a sandwich lover's paradise.
Dibella's and Pellegrino's have traditional subs on lock-down. Lee's and Whatta are both making banh mi that is on par with Vietnamese sandwich places in much larger cities. Open Face and Mise En Place are cranking-out classy sandwiches made with artisanal / gourmet ingredients right next door from each other, Dogtown serves the best hot dog (technically a sandwich, I think) anywhere, and do I even need to mention that damn pulled pork sandwich at Dinosaur?
Add the Cubano at Georgie's Bakery to the mix and it's clear that we're living in a city that knows a thing or two about slapping some ingredients in between two pieces of bread and calling it a meal.
James M. and I came to Georgie's today after he insisted that I had to try the Cubano. An established skeptic of positive restaurant reviews in the City Newspaper, I was intrigued by Mr. Leach's recent review of Georgie's, yet reluctant to spend my hard-earned cash on an unknown sandwich, when I knew I could get stellar sandwiches from a half-dozen places within a one-mile radius of my apartment.
Knowing today also happened to be Wednesday, the one day of the week that Georgie's makes fried chicken, I decided that it was as good as any to sample what this little eatery had to offer.
First, the fried chicken. As it currently stands, Rochester doesn't really have a place to hang its chicken hat. Sure, there might be a soul food place or two that no one has been to on the other side of the city, and that place in Webster has been getting a lot of positive attention lately, but in all honesty, are you willing to drive more than a few minutes for fried chicken? Hell, if I have more than sixty seconds to think about ordering fried chicken, I usually don't order it because of I'm afraid of having a heart attack.
Today, I just walked in and ordered, and I must say, Georgie's serves up some damn good fried chicken. While it's not the best I've ever had and I would have preferred more seasoning on the chicken itself, when combined with homemade hot sauce and heaping portions of beans and rice and macaroni salad, it makes for a pretty satisfying meal for only about 7 bucks. The batter was perfectly light and crisp, and there was so little grease that I didn't even have to wash my hands afterward. There were no soggy lumps of batter under the skin or sheets of batter falling off as soon as I bit into the chicken. The chicken was golden brown, scorching hot, and brilliantly moist.
Texturally, it was perfect.
The beans and rice were well-seasoned and did not clump together in a giant mass, like they tend to do when I cook them at home. The amount of mayo in the macaroni salad was not overwhelming, and hard-boiled eggs added a nice fluffiness and depth that is missing in mayo-only mac salads. The habanero peppers in the accompanying vinegar-based hot sauce provided a nice kick to anything fortunate enough to receive a splashing.
Now for the Cubano.
As many of you know from my banh mi reviews, I'm a firm believer that despite being considered by many as a mere vessel designed to hold the REAL stars of the show, the modest roll can make or break a sandwich. It can be too crusty, too stale, too thick, too thin, or it may succumb to the moisture of the ingredients and disintegrate as soon as you pick it up.
At Georgie's there is no question as to the freshness and quality of the bread. Georgie's is primarily a BAKERY that also happens to serve amazing sandwiches. Without bread, there would be no Georgie's. What makes this place truly special, however, is that even though they could put any old cold cuts on their delicious bread and it would still make for a good sandwich, Georgie's refuses to drift into the land of mediocrity and has chosen to include house roasted pork on their signature Cubano.
The interplay of ingredients transforms a straight forward combination of foods into a magical food masterpiece that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. From the crispy pork to the salty ham to the gooey cheese to the tart pickles to the creamy mayo-based condiment to the oven fresh bread, there is nothing in this sandwich that seems out of place. Sprinkle on a little bit of hot sauce and you've got one of the best sandwiches out there.
As for the service, both the woman and the man working there were cheerful, generous, and accommodating. They checked-in with us several times to make sure we were satisfied and thanked us for our business on the way out. The dining room was small, but clean and despite the high volume of take-out orders, we only had to wait about 5 minutes for our meals to arrive.
I give this place, and the Cubano in particular, my highest recommendation. read more